A hallmark of modern graphical user interfaces is that they allow a large number of graphical objects or items to be displayed on a display screen at the same time. Leading personal computer operating systems, such as Apple MacOS X, provide user interfaces in which a number of windows can be displayed, overlapped, resized, moved, configured, and reformatted according to the needs of the user or application. Taskbars, menus, virtual buttons and other user interface elements provide mechanisms for accessing and activating windows even when they are hidden behind other windows.
Although users appreciate interfaces that can present information on a screen via multiple windows, the result can be overwhelming. For example, users may find it difficult to navigate to a particular user interface element or to locate a desired element among a large number of onscreen elements. The problem is further compounded when user interfaces allow users to position elements in a desired arrangement, including overlapping, minimizing, maximizing, and the like. Although such flexibility may be useful to the user, it can result in a cluttered display screen. Having too many elements displayed on the screen can lead to “information overload,” thus inhibiting the user to efficiently use the computer equipment.
Many of the deficiencies of conventional user interfaces can be reduced using “widgets.” Generally, widgets are user interface elements that include information and one or more tools (e.g., applications) that let the user perform common tasks and provide fast access to information. Widgets can perform a variety of tasks, including without limitation, communicating with a remote server to provide information to the user (e.g., weather report), providing commonly needed functionality (e.g., a calculator), or acting as an information repository (e.g., a notebook). Examples of widgets can be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/877,968.
Due in part to their simplicity, hundreds of widgets have been developed and publicly distributed. Such ubiquitous use of widgets, however, has created a new challenge for system administrators, particularly in the realm of computer security. For example, since widgets behave like applications there is an opportunity for malicious activity. Malicious widgets can be configured by widget authors to access network resources, file systems and other vital system components to perform unauthorized activities. Such unauthorized activities can include accessing private information, logging user key strokes, redirecting the user to websites, installing a virus, deleting files, displaying inappropriate content and the like.